Nearly half of Illinois education spending goes to pensions

Illinois spends more on its students than any other Midwestern state, according to an analysis by the Illinois Policy Institute.

Illinois spends approximately $13,000 per student on average, almost $4,000 more than Kentucky, at $9,300, and a little more than $3,000 more than Missouri and Indiana. Iowa and Wisconsin are the only other Midwestern states spending more than $10,000 per student, but each still spends significantly less than Illinois.

One problem with spending so much is that instead of going to the classroom, nearly half goes to funding pensions (excluding those in Chicago), the institute said.

"In fact, if you look at total education spending from 2009 to 2014, the state added $8.9 billion in new dollars over and above the base amount of $6.8 billion it spent in 2009," the institute said in its Pensions vs. Schools report. "Of those new dollars spent, 89 percent went to pay for retirement costs. Just 11 percent made it to the classroom."

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